Landlord Alleges a Von Fursten-Fraud

(CN) – A man pretended to be the son of fashion maven Diane von Furstenberg to land a posh penthouse in SoHo, then buggered out on rent, landlords say in two separate lawsuits seeking to evict him. One lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court takes aim at Corey von Furstenburg, accusing him of lying about his lineage. The second, a federal complaint filed in New Jersey, accuses attorney Edward G. D’Alessandro Jr. of swearing to the lies. Both lawsuits come from 496 Broadway LLC, the landlord behind a $13,500-a-month, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment for which the 38-year-old tenant allegedly owes more than $100,000 in back rent. The New York case says von Furstenburg falsely stated in his November 2014 application to get the space that his salary was more than $1 million, and that his annual trust income surpassed $4 million. “In fact, defendant lacks sufficient income to even pay rent due under the lease,” the lawsuit states. In the New Jersey federal complaint, the landlord notes that attorney D’Alessandro told the renters that von Furstenburg could not provide his Social Security number to for “privacy” reasons and to protect his “personal safety.” D’Alessandro then falsely told the landlords that his “client’s” income surpassed $5 million, had a $1 million annual salary and a “personal and trust portfolio” of $100 million, according to the complaint. “In fact, the representations regarding von Furstenberg’s salary, income and assets were false,” the 7-page lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court claims. D’Alessandro’s past litigation includes a complaint the Federal Trade Commission filed against him several years ago in Texas, accusing the attorney of lying about the effectiveness of a weight-loss product. That suit led to a $155 million judgment against him, the 6-page federal lawsuit states. And “now that ‘von Furstenberg’ is ensconced in the luxury penthouse, he has stopped paying rent,” according to the federal complaint. The landlords want him out. Both cases were filed by Joseph Lee Matalon with Matalon Shweky Elman PLLC in Manhattan.